Road post. Day 1, 2, 3 and 4 from SF to Arcata.

Omg!!! 4 glorious days on the road. Where do I begin?! How bout day one recap.... So I leave Sonora after a much hungover morning and head for San Francisco. I got to the city around 5. Keeping to my dollar menu budget I hit up a taco bell on 14th and guerrero for a burrito and water. The 2 hour boiling ride in 100+ valley heat had me on the verge of passing out and low blood sugar from no breakfast. (why am I so hard on myself?) so I then approach the park. Moto friendly parking is so accessible all over the city. Love it! Find a spot right up in the best spot on 20th between church and Dolores. I parked and crossed the street where I found the greenest plushest pad of grass and laid exhaustedly on my back in the cool welcoming greenery and closed my eyes. Listening to the city sounds and social scenes of park goers and parties and dogs frolicking and well it is a farmiliar sound that is music to my ears. And worthy of napping to for certain. And so I did. Moments later a friend came throuh with some naptime accompaniment. And we lazed under blanket and embrace.

That evening had cooled off considerably with the coastal cast compared to the hundred degree nights that I'm accustomed to in Sonora. Well taking this party to the beach was what we did and we sat round the bonfires and were entertained by the cops driving up and down the parkinglot with their light show, whilst trying to clear the beach. After some time namely some firepit cops had discovered that we weren't so graceful about hiding any fact that we had beer in our possession and so they somewhat kindly told us to go. And we went. However late as it was, it was by no means the end of my first night in town. Nothig like saying hello SF than with a classic trip to the Lexington. Guaranteed to see great friends, I did. And it was a long long entertaining night. Upon waking the next morning after a much needed long sleep, my darling friend Aysha took me to Chow for birthday brunch. I heart her! Thanks Aysha!!! You
rule!!

Sunday afternoon I headed to Marx Field in Golden Gate Park for my friend Jessie's going away party. She is moving to Guadalajara, and yes of course I'm going to visit! The afternoon was full of fun and entertainment and new people that I had the fortunate opportunity to exchange amusements with. We all played Sloshball and Beanbag toss, which may I say I got a swoosh with. The bean bag didn't even hit the board just fell right into the hole. Good thing I had many witnesses and many high fives for that awesome display of athleticism. (sure underhand beanbag toss is athletic). However, I wasn't so skilled at the slinky-string-ball-fling-at- sticks game. (Blame it on the A-A-A-A-A-alcohol)
There were these guys out there hosting their DJ-catering business: Funk N Chunk. A one of a kind operation they run. They provided our party with BBQ burgers and rad ass DJing all afternoon, and for free, as a way to promote their business. They are a growing operation of
catering and party service. They serve the greater San Francisco area and are reachable at FUNKNCHUNK.com. I had a real nice visit with those fellas and you should check them out sometime. You might see them in GGP on the weekends hooking it up. Just remember to tip.

That evening exhausted from the days events, I gladly ran over to a friends house for some naptime and an episode of a hilarious vampire drama. (Managed to wake up with fang marks. ;))
The next morning I went for coffee with my friend Taylor on the moto. We stopped in a cute little shop in a quaint part of the city and sat in the patio out back among the warm earthy colors and folliage, and fresh morning smells. The coffee shop had a nice selection of icecream and so I decided to start my birthday off with a scoop of mint chocolate chip icecream MMMMmmmmmm!! I also had ordered a chai latte but somewhere between the main gal asking me what I wanted, giving her my answer, and then the other barista asking me again what I thought was merely a clarifying question, they managed to make me the wrong drink all together. But time was crunching and so instead of giving them another chance to unfuck my drink order, I just decided that it'd be equally delicious to put my icecream scoop in my coffee to make it taste better. And it worked.

Day 3, Monday ride to Russian River and Arcata:
Upon dropping Taylor off at home I hit the road, bundled and warm in the morning city fog, I rode north up the 101 to the Russian River. After crossing the Golden Gate bridge and coming over that hill into Marin County the fog was no more and the weather became lovely and warm.
30 minutes of riding and before I reached River road (my exit to the Russian River) I was stricken with a major urge to "go". Unfortunately the bathroom at the station I'd selected was being bombed and then clogged by some packing vagabond hippies and so I had to hit the road for another restroom. But when I fired my bike up I had an unfarmiliar sound ring through my ears. See, my exhaust pipes were unusually loud. So I bent over to look at the source of such monstrous sound, and there I saw that the place where usually two nuts hold my exhaust manifold in place, well?, they were completely gone. Hahaha. So I figured that since it wouldn't fall off anytime soon that I'd just pick up some nuts at a hardware store in Guerneville, and off I rumbled and crackled with my new sound. Lol.
At first sight of an auto parts store I stopped and got those nuts. However, I was only able to get one screwed on part-way with the tools I was working with. So I just vowed to keep an eye on it and wrench that one lonely nut down periodically as needed. And so I loudly rattled and crackled down the road through the RR and on to Uncle Johnnys old place.
Motoring through the redwoods got chilly so I paused briefly to throw my sweatshirt on. (All better) So I cruised by Uncle Johnny's to see the old place. Uncle Johnny passed away last year but he was one of my favorite people and artists. and one of the greatest guys ever. All the friends of mine that met him always say how rad he was. Warms my heart. So when I was pulling out of the road upon leaving I looked up the hill to my right and notice something dark and cat sized laying in the road, so naturally I thought it was just a cute little black cat chilling in the road. Sure it was a little dark thanks to the thick redwood canopy, but I thought it was cute. I almost rode up to check it out, but instead I turned left and headed down the road and off on the 3rd leg of my trip on up to Arcata, 3 more hours away.
River Road is a long two lane road with passing areas and when there are lots of slow cars they come in handy for a moto. So naturally I was almost to the 101 and was throttling on in a passing effort and while passing a truck my engine cut. My electrical had malfunctioned and seemed to react the way it does when my key fob is not near the bike. The system disables and the lights blink all crazy. Way to have to pull over right after making a point to pass someone. Gotta love it. Once stopped in the shoulder I turned my key off and just restarted the engine. It fired up normally and so no point in stressing over nothing. Ya just laugh it off and hit the road. So I was off again and on my way. But I decided that it would be a good idea to take it easy so that whatever that shit was I just experienced, wouldn't happen again.

Motoring up the 101 sleeveless and hot and loving it turned into me seeing how long I could go as the weather got colder and colder and colder and the sun completely disappeared far above the dark looming northern coastal cast that was making my goosebumps as big as some of the redwoods I was rumbling by. So I made it to Rio Dell/Scotia, where I had to get gas anyway. But while I was in the store gettin coffee and sipping and warming and just about to pay for it, the attendant looked up and said "just coffee?" and I said "yeah" and he said "don't worry 'bout it" and I said "thanks man".
Then another biker rolled into the gas station and we chatted it up a bit and he asked me about my Dirty Birds and I told him about my trip and it was just good stuff.

Monday night I rolled into Arcata a frozen popsicle. My friends all greeted me with warmth, hugs, dogpiles on the couch, and mojitos. Oh what fun! We relaxed and drank and watched YouTube videos while sorting out what to make of a night on the town. We ended up going to a house party (my favorite thing ever). I had a good time watching people take turns at beer pong and taking rotations between the patio and the kitchen. After awhile we made a break for the bars and Dons Donuts. Public Service Announcement!: Ok, I don't suggest ever eating the spicy chicken anything after a night of drinking, cause what I had thought were potentially giant tomato flakes all over the top of my pizza, were actually no shitting you death star red chili pepper flakes and I panted with my mouth gaping open for anything to kill the pain for the very long walk back to my friends house. OMG! HOT!

Tuesday morning: I SHOWERED!!! haha, only 3 days in, too. I must be getting soft.
And hunger takes over so I reach for the same pizza and with magnifyiny glass and tweezers I pick out the death from my now breakfast. Mmmmmm!

Now we're waiting for all the girls to get here so we can mob off to Sandy Bar for a campout and some hot swimming!!! Woohooo!!!

This concludes day 1, 2, 3, and the beginning of 4 adventure recap birthday trip to Canada. Will write more in a day or so. next leg of trip is Coquille and Portland Oregon. (these updates are coming to you via my iPhone) rad.